Olam to remain a key government partner in development

Accra- Olam Ghana, a leading agri-commodity company, says it would remain a key partner to government in efforts to improve the country’s socio-economic development.

Mr Amit Agrawal, the Managing Director of Olam Ghana, who made the pledge, said Olam would continue to innovate and also make significant investments in the various farming communities and in people in Ghana as part of its operations.

He was speaking at the closing session of Olam Ghana’s Annual Cocoa Managers’ conference in Accra on Friday.

The 2018 Olam Cocoa Managers’ conference on the theme: The most Admired Business: Building Thriving Communities through Digitalization, brought together managers from all the cocoa buying regions to strategise for the coming season and ensure that the managers were well-equipped for the cocoa business, and also to keep abreast with management decisions.

Mr Agrawal said Olam had invested more than GH1.47 billion since its establishment in Ghana in 1994 and farmer funding of over GH100million every year.

Olam is present in all the 10 regions with over 320 distributors and procurement locations, benefitting over 100,000 farmers. It has over 1,050 permanent workers and 1,200 casual staff.

He said in Ghana, Olam paid more than GHC500million in both duty and Value Added Tax to the government, aside other social investments it made in people and communities.

Mr Eric Asare Botwe, Business Head, Olam Ghana, said the company had seen increasing fortunes as far as cocoa purchases were concerned.

Olam Ghana is growing in every aspect, he said, adding that, the company last year purchased 110,000 tonnes of cocoa beans in the 2016/17 season out of a crop size of about 850,000 tonnes.

He said Olam currently buys about 22 per cent of Ghana’s total produce of 850,000 tons of Cocoa each year, making the company the third largest Licensed Buying Company in the country.

In solidarity messages, the Produce Buying Company, the Licensed Cocoa Buyers Association of Ghana and the Cocoa Coffee Sheanut association, were full of praise for Olam Ghana Limited for following set standards for practitioners in the industry.

They also praised Olam’s contribution to national development through community involvement and development.

Apart from our cocoa processing factory in Ghana, Olam Ghana, established in 1994, is also the biggest biscuit producer in Ghana and largest tomato paste manufacturer in West Africa.